Austin Sound

In July, Soundcheck Magazine put together an exceptional show for their Summer Showcase, including local standouts Octopus Project and Clap! Clap! For their Winter Showcase, they’ve tapped two new up-and-coming acts in the form of Mothfight! and the Soldier Thread, as well as recent Austin transplant, singer-songwriter Micah P. Hinson.

Review by John Michael Cassetta/ Photos by Doug Freeman
(Click image to view full-sized picture)

As I was entering Emo’s, The Soldier Thread, relative newcomers to the Austin music scene, had just kicked off their set. I’ll admit, I hadn’t heard much about this band at all, aside from the few facts being thrown around on their Sound Off this past week. They’ve made it to the quarter finals of Spin Magazine’s Music Nation contest, and within the first few minutes of their set, it was obvious why. Their music translated well live, and the dynamic contrast of the male to female vocals played out beautifully (although my eyes fell into a swoon over their keyboardist’s Rhodes). The drone of the keyboard and spacious guitars filled the still sparsely populated club, and almost as soon as they really got going, their short set came to an end. Nonetheless, The Soldier Thread are a band to keep an eye on.

Micah P. Hinson is about the most interesting character you’ll ever see on stage. He is essentially the preposterous juxtaposition of more things than I can count: southern, hipster, European, rock n’ roll, folk, disgruntled, stiff, loud, bluegrass, charming, etc. Watching him on stage is like watching the realization of all my dreams when I first “discovered” music: I wanted to be a rock star, a folk singer, and an avant-garde experimentalist all at once. Hinson seemed to embody small parts of all of these at once, varying from an intimate croon over sparse guitar interjections that bring Will Johnson solo albums to mind (the last time I saw Hinson he was opening for Johnson, actually), to screaming mic-stand-toppling vocals hidden under a cackling, shrieking guitar. Hinson’s shows are always entertaining; he seems to always find a comfortable, relaxed way to fit between folk music and the sound of impending doom.

That brings us to Mothfight! Watching these guys set up was an event in itself. Within half an hour of Hinson’s set, Emo’s little stage was taken over by a sprawling mess of electronics, cables, instruments and bubble blowers. I’ve read a number of reviews raving about their live shows, but none of them compare to the real thing, so anything I’m about to say comes with a stipulation: see Mothfight! live, now. After having set up, they preceded to conjure up some of the most original music I’ve heard in some time. The simplest way to describe their sound is as a grotesque explosion of an Arcade Fire album, but it was the way the music flowed out of a constant bed of

noise that was most impressive. They’d start with a full lineup of shakers and hand percussion that would morph into beautifully intricate songs that would just as soon crash back down into noise only to rise up again. There was not a moment of complete silence to be had the whole set. Their attention to detail, creative songwriting, and general enthusiasm for music made the night really quite enjoyable.

If there was any real disappointment at the show, it’d have to be the merch table. Micah P. Hinson has an established catalog, but neither The Soldier Thread nor MothFight! currently have much for me to fliff my cash at; The Soldier Thread have a single EP (Fevers and Fireworks) and MothFight! have a 7” (”Hopscotch,” but my turntable is broken anyway). Granted these bands are relatively new on the music scene, so if there’s one word to sum up this whole show, it’s potential. HUGE potential.